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When I say hot bite, it can be taken two ways. The perch are all over the place and are hitting various types of lures. The weather on the water has been hot too.
I have gotten out in Weems Creek and other nearby spots a bunch of times during the past few weeks in my kayak. I am throwing small soft plastics on spinner arms, one of Woody's lures, tiny Storm shads, and even experimented with a large Mepps spinner and a 3" hard plastic minnow (no bites on the hard plastic, and a few bites but no hookups on the Mepps). I think a 3" to 4" lure is about the largest prey image that the fish are looking for. If I use anything larger, I don't get bites. Of course, if you are looking for a rockfish in those waters, a bigger bait is a good idea.
The perch seem to be living from the shoreline out to about 8' depth -- I get no bites when I am deeper than that. The fishfinder on my kayak helps me keep from fishing too deep.
Woody (from the Tidalfish board) has reported that he found perch mainly in the shade. I have found fish in both shade and sun. I think they are out there all over the place. I have caught them by casting and retrieving, very slow ultralight tackle trolling, vertical jigging (when a fish follows the lure to the boat, just flip it back in and jig it a bit), and even by letting a lure hang in the water while I am untangling the line.
There is loads of natural bait in Weems. In almost all the shallow areas there are numerous small slender minnows. I see some schools of very small peanut bunker out in deeper areas. They make small splashes and ripples in dozens of spots as far as I can see. Yesterday I saw bunches of what appeared to be small needlefish (~6" long) scooting along at the surface near my kayak.
Earlier in the week, I fished another creek somewhat downstream from Weems and was surprised to catch a 14" pickerel.
Two weeks ago in Weems, I saw out of the corner of my eye a large ugly chocolate-brown object in the water about 20' away. When I turned to look directly at it, the object submerged. My initial reaction was that it was a large snapping turtle, although I did not get a good look at it.
Plus the birdwatching is great.
If you can find the time (especially now that it stays light out until 8:30 to 9:00 in the evening), check out Weems or our other local tidal creeks. The fishing for perch is awesome now.
I have gotten out in Weems Creek and other nearby spots a bunch of times during the past few weeks in my kayak. I am throwing small soft plastics on spinner arms, one of Woody's lures, tiny Storm shads, and even experimented with a large Mepps spinner and a 3" hard plastic minnow (no bites on the hard plastic, and a few bites but no hookups on the Mepps). I think a 3" to 4" lure is about the largest prey image that the fish are looking for. If I use anything larger, I don't get bites. Of course, if you are looking for a rockfish in those waters, a bigger bait is a good idea.
The perch seem to be living from the shoreline out to about 8' depth -- I get no bites when I am deeper than that. The fishfinder on my kayak helps me keep from fishing too deep.
Woody (from the Tidalfish board) has reported that he found perch mainly in the shade. I have found fish in both shade and sun. I think they are out there all over the place. I have caught them by casting and retrieving, very slow ultralight tackle trolling, vertical jigging (when a fish follows the lure to the boat, just flip it back in and jig it a bit), and even by letting a lure hang in the water while I am untangling the line.
There is loads of natural bait in Weems. In almost all the shallow areas there are numerous small slender minnows. I see some schools of very small peanut bunker out in deeper areas. They make small splashes and ripples in dozens of spots as far as I can see. Yesterday I saw bunches of what appeared to be small needlefish (~6" long) scooting along at the surface near my kayak.
Earlier in the week, I fished another creek somewhat downstream from Weems and was surprised to catch a 14" pickerel.
Two weeks ago in Weems, I saw out of the corner of my eye a large ugly chocolate-brown object in the water about 20' away. When I turned to look directly at it, the object submerged. My initial reaction was that it was a large snapping turtle, although I did not get a good look at it.
Plus the birdwatching is great.
If you can find the time (especially now that it stays light out until 8:30 to 9:00 in the evening), check out Weems or our other local tidal creeks. The fishing for perch is awesome now.
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